- The use of cows as symbols for years, a known Egyptian motif appearing mediante texts from the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BCE).
- The names Potiphar/Potiphera and Asenath were genuine Egyptian theophoric names (combining the names of Egyptian deities). Potiphar was based on verso typical Saite Period construct combining the name of the Egyptian god Maesta. Asenath includes the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith, per verso typical construct common from the New Kingdom era esatto the Ptolemaic period, although the goddess’s popularity increased considerably during the Saite period in the Foce (664-332 BCE).
- The 40 days embalming process (describing Jacob’s death per Gn 50:2) was well documented sopra Egypt from the New Kingdom onwards.
- The “agrarian reforms” per Gen -26 describe the exemption of the temples from royal taxation, a practice that was documented from the 8 th century BCE onwards.
Despite the fact that the Egyptian elements in the story represent many www.datingranking.net/it/huggle-review/ different eras, Redford concluded that the composition of the Joseph story should be dated to the Saite period, between 640 and 425 BCE, as some of the details could not predate that period.
The Continuity of Egyptian Culture
This inability onesto identify one specific epoca sopra Egyptian history that could provide the historical background sicuro the Joseph story is the result of an inherent trait of ancient Egyptian culture – its continuity.
This makes it very difficult esatto date verso biblical story based on the Egyptian elements it includes. Alternatively, scholars may date the story by asking when and how Egyptian traditions found their way into the Hebrew Bible.
As biblical research grows more concerned with questions of transmission processes along the Egypt-Israel axis, an old pensiero has reemerged – could the Joseph story have been written by someone living durante the Jewish dispersione per Egypt?
Verso Esodo Annuncio
The “sparpagliamento recente” genre was first noted with relation puro the books of Esther and Daniel. Both describe one man’s rise preciso power mediante a foreign land, per story revolving around verso royal trapu, and culminating with the successful integration of the foreigner within local elites. The sostrato con both books is the exiled Jewish population and both video considerable knowledge of the court, its officials and customs.
The underlying message of both Daniel and Esther is that one can survive and even thrive per the sparpagliamento setting. Therefore, these books were probably written durante exile, for the exiles. Sopra 1975, the biblical scholar Arndt Meinhold first suggested that the Joe narrative scheme of verso migrazione novita serie in the Egyptian breviligne.
The Egyptian Sparpagliamento
The ispirazione of verso Jewish diaspora durante Egypt, compiling its own inspirational literature, is compelling. However, for the most part, the Egyptian sparpagliamento before the Persian period (5 th -4 th centuries BCE) has remained invisible to Egyptologists. For example, con Jer 44:1, the prophet addresses Judeans that reside sopra the land of Egypt at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph and mediante the land of Pathros. Most Egyptologists agree that the first three place-names can be identified as Tell Qedua (northern Sinai), Tell Defeneh (12 km west of the Suez Canal) and Memphis. Nevertheless, these sites have not yielded remains that attest sicuro their foreign Judahite/Israelite element during the 6 th century BCE, the period of Jeremiah’s prophecies.
Perhaps too few Judahite and Israelite settlers were in Egypt preciso leave verso significant mark. But it should not be surprising that some settled there after the destruction of Judah; trade relations between Egypt and Judah/Israel were maintained throughout the first millennium BCE, and those trade relations may have also led onesto the migration of smaller groups preciso Egypt, particularly after the destructions of Samaria (722 BCE) and Jerusalem (586 BCE).